ERA Champions 2

Leading Suffragist And Author Of The Equal Rights Amendment

Alice Stokes Paul

Dr. Alice Stokes Paul

1855 - 1977

Alice Stokes Paul was a brilliant strategist and courageous pioneer in women's history. She never married and devoted her life to the cause of social justice for women. Studying in England she became involved in the suffrage movement and returned to America as a radical champion for voting rightsfor women.

Her non-violent activities of campaigning against the party in power, picketing the White House and organizing large-scale parades for publicity landed her in jail three times.

Congresswoman And Presidential

Shirley Chisholm1924 - 2005

Between 1972 - 1982, more than 450 national and local organizations stood united to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex.

Alice went on hunger strikes while in prison where she was brutally
tortured and force-fed three meals a day for weeks on end. Her
determination and perseverance to fulfill Susan B. Anthony's legacy
brought about the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Having been awarded two PhDs in Economics and Law, Alice viewed suffrage as the means to achieving full legal, political and social equality with men. In 1921, she wrote theoriginal Equal Rights Amendment. It was adopted by the Republican Party in 1940 and the Democratic Party in 1944. In 1943, Alice Paul revised the text of the Equal Rights Amendment to more closely resemble the fourteenth and nineteenth amendments. It would be another 29 years before the current ERA would pass in Congress.

Our democracy was founded upon the notion that women weren't citizens but rather property of their fathers and husbands. Consequently, women were barred from designing America's system of law, government, business, education, moral and social tradition that has been passed down through the generations without challenge.

Though women have achieved much progress,it has never been without struggle and sacrifice to prove herself worthy of human rights that are men's from birth. The Equal Rights Amendment is Alice's legacy for America's future. United 4 Equality is honored to carryout her vision of a better and more just world.

In ten years, ERA achieved the support of more than 2/3 of Congress and 35 out of the 38 states it needed. Equality, Justice and Liberty were coming down the homestretch with just three states left to go.... and June 30, 1982 arrived.

Despite the 72% majority opinion in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment, Congress stood silent. Refusing to extend or remove an arbitrary deadline for ratification, ERA was thrust into political exile just three states short of victory.

Should women be required to start all over again with a new Equal Rights Amendment to ratify? This would require 2/3 of Congress to vote YES and 38 of 50 states. Or should women demand to finish what was already started and 92% of the way complete? United 4 Equality urges Congress not to hit the restart button on ERA and erase the efforts of so many. Instead recommit to ending sex discrimination as part of America's economic recovery effort and global competitiveness.

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